Ervin Zador, Hungary's 21-year-old water polo star, emerges from the Olympic swimming pool in Melbourne with blood pouring from a cut beneath his right eye. The "blood in the water" match against the Soviet Union in December 1956 came to represent Hungary's bloody struggle against its Communist oppressors.

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Zador is led away after the controversial climax to the match against the Soviet Union.

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The victorious Hungarian team including captain Dezso Gyarmati (back row, center) and Ervin Zador, who didn't play in the final, second from the right in the front row.

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Dezso Gyarmati won the second of his three Olympic gold medals at the Melbourne in 1956.

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Protesters mill around a decapitated statue head of former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin on the streets of the Hungarian capital Budapest.

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A 15-year-old Hungarian girl armed with a machine gun during protests against the country's communist rulers.

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Soviet army tanks on the streets of Budapest on November 12, 1956. The quashing of the revolution claimed the lives of 2,000 citizens and injured hundreds more.

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The revolution also created tens of thousands of refugees. Here, a woman and her three children arrive in Swtizerland after her husband was killed fighting the Soviet forces.

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A member of the Hungarian secret police (the AVO) is dragged along the ground by angry protesters during the revolution.

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Gergely Kiss, Hungary's modern-day water polo hero, is looking to claim his fourth gold medal at the London Olympics later this year.

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Ervin Zador attending a press conference in 2006 for the documentary "Freedom's Fury," which tells the story of Hungary's sporting and politcal match against the Soviets in 1956.

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Story highlights

Hungary's water polo match with Soviet Union played against backdrop of revolution

Hungary beat Soviets 4-0 in semifinal at Melbourne Olympics in 1956 and went on to take gold

Failed revolution claimed 2,000 lives and created hundreds of thousands of refugees

Hungary is most successful water polo team at Olympics, winning nine gold medals

"A superpower destroys your country with weapons and tanks -- a country that has never asked for that power to be there. And after that revolution is crushed you have to face the representatives of that superpower."

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 became the backdrop to one of the most famous contests in Olympic history, where blood spilled in the sporting arena came to symbolize the bloody struggle of a nation against a brutal oppressor, the former Soviet Union.

The events at the Melbourne Games in December that year became known as the "Blood in the Water" match, but when Hungary's water polo team set off for Australia in early November, the possibility of freedom still hung over the streets of Budapest.

Mass protests and fighting which erupted on October 23 had died down after a ceasefire was ordered, and Soviet armed forces were beginning their withdrawal.

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Gyarmati had taken part in the initial rally, leaving the team's training camp in the hills above Budapest to join protestors on the streets.

But by the time they set foot on Australian soil, Gyarmati and his teammates were informed of a brutal turn of events as Soviet forces ruthlessly reasserted their grip on the Hungarian capital.

More than 2,000 protesters were killed in the fighting, hundreds more were injured and many thousands were forced to flee the country.

It proved to be a bloody prelude to a bruising semifinal showdown with the Soviet water polo team.

Gyarmati recalls a tough, but generally disciplined match which turned sour in the closing moments when Soviet player Valentin Prokopov elbowed Hungary's star Ervin Zador in the face, cutting him below the eye.

"I told (Zador) to get out of the pool," Gyarmati recalled, "but not where he was, but to swim across the pool to the grandstand with 8,000 people.

"By the time he'd swum over, the blood had trickled down onto his chest. He looked like he (had come out) from the butcher. The audience exploded."

The headline "Cold War violence erupts at Melbourne Olympics" ran the following day in the Sydney Morning Herald, which reported that many spectators left their seats in the stands, shouting abuse and spitting at the Russians.

The image of Zador standing poolside, blood streaming down his torso, quickly gained a wider audience. It seized the imagination of a world shocked by the crushing of the Magyar uprising, while offering some crumbs of comfort to a traumatized nation as the Hungarians triumphed 4-0.

The team went on to win in the final, beating Yugoslavia 2-1 to claim the nation's fourth Olympic gold in the competition.

Zador, who didn't play in the final, never returned to Hungary, instead choosing to settle in the U.S. and become a swimming coach in California.

The victory over the Soviets inspired the making of a documentary "Freedom's Fury" and a feature film "Szabadsag, szerelem" ("Children of Glory") both released to mark the 50th anniversary in 2006.

The documentary, co-produced by Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino, was narrated by seven-time Olympic champion Mark Spitz, who was coached by Zador as a youngster during the 1960s.

The dramatic events in Melbourne form the centerpiece of a rich and proud heritage in the sport which has seen the Hungarians rack up nine Olympic golds, more than twice as many as any other nation.

The "Blood in the Water" story continues to inspire and motivate Hungary's modern water polo heroes including Gergely Kiss, who grew up in dying years of communist rule.

"Beating the beast, the big enemy was such a great feeling for every Hungarian. It helped so much for the revolution," Kiss said.

The 34-year-old was part of the Hungarian team which beat Russian opposition in the final at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, ending a 24-year gold medal drought.

Further success followed at Athens in 2004 and in Beijing four years later. Kiss will be aiming for a record fourth straight gold at this year's London Olympics.